Voters will not have a say on viaduct replacement

By LARRY LANGE, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Seattle City Council on Friday endorsed the tunnel option as the city's choice to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct, or SR 99, in a 7-1 vote, and at the same time, it reneged on its offer to ask voters in November whether they would rather pay for a tunnel or a new elevated freeway.

The council also rejected a plan, proposed by Councilman Nick Licata, to put a question on the ballot that dealt strictly with replacing the viaduct with a tunnel.

Licata was the lone dissenter, voting in favor of the advisory and the tunnel votes. Councilman David Della was absent for personal reasons.

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Also on Friday, the council approved a property tax levy to fund transporation after reducing it to $365 million over nine years.

The advisory vote would have been on the ballot during this year's general election. A week ago, city leaders wanted to allow voters the choice between the two options to send a stronger message to the state budget makers.

But after revised cost estimates were released by the state Wednesday showing that the tunnel would cost almost $2 billion more than previously anticipated, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, the tunnel's biggest booster, said an advisory vote would only confuse voters.

The state Transportation Department reported a $5.5 billion maximum for a tunnel, up from $3.6 billion, and said that an elevated replacement structure would cost as high as $3.3 billion.

Nickels wants a tunnel to carry the more than 100,000 vehicles per day that now travel state Route 99 on the elevated, double-decker viaduct. The 53-year-old structure, which was damaged in the 2001 earthquake and is vulnerable to another one, would be torn down.

The state legislature has said that it wants Seattle to declare its replacement preference by the end of the year or risk the loss of the $2.4 billion set aside for the project.

Council members now will take their preference to the state legislature, which holds the checkbook for transporation projects.

Any new state money for the project requires approval by the Legislature. Nine of the 18 House and Senate members from Seattle wrote Gov. Christine Gregoire endorsing a tunnel.